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Oasis ’ Steve Frey says the serviced apartment sector ’ s customer base will evolve to embrace both transient business travel and more leisure business . As a consequence , operators will look to technology to provide efficiency-related savings .
“ If you ’ re taking bookings for shorter periods , you ’ re making the same profit percentage , but with fewer nights the actual amount companies make is less but the work that goes into that booking is unchanged . For that to be economically viable you have to be able to reduce your costs on a booking level and the only way to really do that is through technology .”
Frey believes that operators who either create or leverage the available technology will emerge as the principal source of supply . From smaller , local serviced apartment providers to larger companies that can operate as agencies or suppliers .
“ I think the distinction between being the source of supply and being the source of demand will become clearer . The ones that have created the technology efficiencies required to deliver at the most costeffective levels for the customer , will become the source of demand .”